SXSW Quick Snaps: Ashley Greene and Heath Freeman of 'Skateland'

The DVD release of Twilight: New Moon was not on my radar last week until a couple of "Twihards" asked, "OMG -- did you get to meet Ashley Greene or Kristen Stewart at SXSW?!" As I showed you previously, I saw Stewart at The Runaways screening along with her co-star Dakota Fanning and rock star Cherie Currie. Indeed the red carpets were abuzz for the arrivals of both Twilight stars for their respective movies.

Ashley Greene, who plays Alice Cullen in the Twilight series, showed up in Austin during SXSW to promote Skateland. Skateland is set in the early 1980s and is centered around a 19-year-old skating rink manager who is forced to look in his life in a new way. However, it's the strength of the female characters and the women who portray them -- led by Greene -- that stands out in this film. Although most of the filming took place in Shreveport, Louisiana, the story is set in a small Texas town and many of the filmmakers graduated from The University of Texas at Austin, including producer Heath Freeman, who also plays Greene's character's brother.

Writer, director and co-producer Anthony Burns (pictured above) was very personable both on the red carpet and during the Q&A. He spoke fondly of working on the story for Skateland with co-writers Brandon and Heath Freeman at a favorite local coffee spot, Spider House Cafe. As a devoted Longhorn fan, Burns revealed to editor Robert Hoffman, who was in the audience, that Hoffman almost didn't get hired when the producers found out he was a graduate of sports rival University of Southern California (USC). Burns was elated to have his dream come true -- to premiere a movie at SXSW Film Festival, introduced by fest founder Louis Black.

Visit our Flickr page for more Skateland premiere photos, and check back soon for my review.

[Photo credit: 'Ashley Greene and Heath Freeman at Skateland' by Debbie Cerda, for Slackerwood]